Graduate & lecturer celebrate award success

(Credit: Radio LaB)

AUoB graduate has won a Silver award at the Student Radio Awards.

Laura Conder graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism earlier this year, and was awarded Silver in the ‘Best Journalistic Programming’ category for her documentary looking at the world of people smuggling in the U.K.

Created as part of her final year work, Laura’s documentary – titled ‘Meet the Smugglers’ – was originally aired on UoB’s oncampus radio station Radio LaB 97.1FM.

The eye-opening documentary looked at people smuggling in the U.K., with Laura speaking to people smugglers about their experiences, alongside telling listeners about her own experience when she was found guilty of the crime.

Laura also interviewed Dr. Patricia Hynes, who was the Principal Investigator of a human trafficking study published last year by UoB’s School of Applied Social Sciences.

On her win, Laura said: “I felt really honoured to win.

“There was some fantastic work from other students this year, despite the trying circumstances, so it’s a big achievement for me.

“It has reminded me that I can go far in this industry.”

Laura’s win marks the third time that a Radio LaB presenter has been nominated for a Student Radio Award in the ‘Best Journalistic Programming’ category since 2017.

Laura is now studying a Masters in Investigative Journalism at DeMontfort University, and she had a special mention for the UoB lecturers that helped her along the way with creating this documentary.

She said: “As ever, a big thank you to Dr Paul Rowinski and Terry Lee for their fantastic support throughout, and of course all of the Journalism team for the last three years.”

After having the added pressure of making this

(Credit: Laura Conder)

important documentary during the Coronavirus lockdown period, Laura shared some words of advice for other students who may be struggling at the moment.

She said: “My biggest advice to students now is to keep going.

“I went through a phase where I wanted to give up.

“Times now are tough, but there are good times ahead.”

You can listen to Laura’s documentary at: radiolab.beds.ac.uk/ meetthesmugglers.

Alongside Laura’s Silver win at the Student Radio Awards, she has also been nominated for a Community Radio Award for the same documentary.

Laura’s ‘Meet the Smugglers’ documentary is nominated in the ‘Speech & Journalism of the Year’ category.

In addition, UoB staff member Terry Lee – and his daughter – have been nominated in the ‘Podcast’ category.

Terry, who is a Senior Tutor of Radio and Audio, won a nomination for the podcast ‘Primrose and Terry: in the shed’, which he records with his daughter.

The podcast was started during the first Coronavirus lockdown period, when Terry decided to introduce sevenyear old Primrose to the world of podcasting while she was doing her schoolwork from home.

The fun podcast features various members of Terry and Primrose’s family, alongside book reviews and interviews with Hermione the hamster!

Speaking about the podcast’s nomination, as well as Laura’s nomination, Terry said: “It is very exciting when Radio LaB is recognised at awards ceremonies.

“Not only is it a great confidence booster, but it is helpful to know that what we are doing is amongst the best radio practice in the U.K.

“Laura’s documentary has done as well as it has because the judges have enjoyed her unique, personal (Credit: Terry Lee)

storytelling.

“The podcast Primrose and I make has caught the imagination as an alternative, quirky home-learning project.

“Ultimately both are about using audio to tell stories – something we have a great tradition of doing here at the University of Bedfordshire.

“Winning awards and plaudits is the icing on the cake.”

As well as his work as a Senior Tutor at UoB, Terry is also responsible for overseeing Radio LaB, alongside the station’s student managers.

For the last five years, the Community Radio Awards have been celebrating volunteers and community radio, with the judging panel comprised of people from a number of backgrounds including those working in the community radio sector and academics.

The Community Radio Awards will be held live on Facebook and YouTube from 7pm on Saturday 12th December.